Saturday, January 5, 2019

Aurora Sentinal Endorses Victim Disarmament

The Sentinel published an editorial endorsing whatever new gun laws the Dems want to propose. I'm sure they will, and ram them down our throats just like 2013. The reaction of the electorate remains to be seen. Here's an annotated version of the editorial. My comments in green:

Colorado
Dems must go with the political flow and enact gun safety bills now

The
tide has turned at the state Capitol, and it’s time to seize the
opportunity to make Colorado safer.

Appeal
to personal safety even though nothing proposed here is likely to
contribute to it. Persons made safer consist of mostly violent
criminals and corrupt politicians.

Democratic
legislators and Colorado’s new governor, who effectively now
control state government, would make a grievous mistake by finally
enacting long overdue gun-safety legislation.

I'm
pretty sure this is a typo although it may well be the only true
statement here.

The
once-honorable National Rifle Association has evolved to become a
ruthless political arm of the nation’s $43-billion-a-year gun
industry. Its clear focus is to ensure the easy and prolific
procurement, use and sale of firearms and ammunition.

The
NRA is not now nor has it ever been a representative of the firearms
industry. It is the advocate of the firearms owner. The memberships
biggest complaint is that they are too willing to compromise.

Over
the past few decades, the NRA and groups such as Rocky Mountain Gun
Owners and the Independence Institute have deviously woven a
gun-rights mythology with fierce patriotism.

It’s
not in any way patriotic to turn firearms on fellow citizens upwards
of 100,000 times a year.

Upwards
of 60,000 of which are citizens turning them on themselves for
whatever reason. Most of the remainder is citizens turning them on
(for the most part) fellow citizens in disputes over who owns what
corner to sell drugs on or to redistribute other peoples wealth.

Colorado
residents are the unwitting subjects of a vastly expensive and
relentless marketing scheme coupled with an ocean of money spent
annually on ensuring compliance from obedient and fearful members of
Congress and the Colorado Legislature.

Don't
see what you have to complain about. Michael Bloomberg, Tom Styer and
George Soros can spend their money however they wish. Buying the
legislature isn't illegal if you do it right.

The
NRA mythology is pegged on equating the U.S. Constitution’s First
Amendment, guaranteeing free speech, with the Second Amendment,
preserving the ability of citizen militias to help defend the nation
against foreign invaders. They have worked tirelessly to persuade
Congress and Colorado voters that there should be no regulation of
firearms in the same way there is virtually no regulation of speech.

The
second amendment is there to preserve the citizens right to speak
freely and all the rest of the stuff covered in the bill of rights.
The first amendment is currently heavily regulated against anyone
complaining about politically imposed tyranny by way of forbidding
among other things “hate speech”, which BTW is anything anyone
disagrees with.

The
result is a chaotic free-for-all where about 100,000 Americans are
killed or maimed each year by firearms. We are killed and wounded by
guns at a rate that is 25 times higher than any other developed
democratic nation. It is our nation’s biggest embarrassment and
preventable tragedy.

First
leave out the suicides. Tragic as they might be, if guns are not
available, people come up with alternatives. The rate does not
change. Second, if you leave out 2 or 3 precincts in 3 or 4 large
(Democrat run) cities, our gun death rate drops to 3rd or
4th lowest in the world.

For
those who insist gun-safety measures won’t reduce gun violence and
mass murders, the dozens of free, Democratic nations across the globe
that protect the rights of hunters and sportsmen and reasonably
regulate firearms are proof that it can be done.

Can't
win the argument on facts, change the argument. The 2nd
amendment isn't about ducks. It's about politicians. Also remember to
never call it gun control. It's to be called gun safety. There are
only 4 rules for gun safety. Ever hear an anti-gun pol speak them? Me
neither.

Colorado
Democrat Party leaders should set aside talk of the last time
Democrats had this kind of control in 2013 and pushed through
measures to ensure background checks and magazine size. The two bills
were born of the Aurora theater shooting massacre and were only the
start of a long list of work needing to be done to rein in rampant
gun violence.

Abridging
the constitutional rights of ones political enemies is a long
established pastime of the Democratic party. Disarming ones political
enemies is as old as political enemies. Hitler disarmed the Jews, and
the Dems passed Jim Crow laws and Black Codes. With only minor
changes, they're still pushing these.

Shortly
after, Republican extremists surprisingly and successfully recalled
two lawmakers over their support of the gun bills. The recall was
pulled off in a special election that few voters took notice of. Even
if the same extremists pulled the same stunt again, voters and
Democrats are wise to the scam.

I
knew a lot of those who worked on the recalls. The elections were
widely reported, and no one I met could reasonably be labeled an
extremist. The 3rd legislator who was up for recall, Evie
Hudak, recognized her impending defeat and resigned before her loss
could flip the Colorado Senate.

Some
Democrats are fearful of certain backlash from gun-rights and
right-wing extremists if they act now on pushing through a red-flag
bill and other gun-safety measures that can provably save lives. They
should step down now. Every lawmaker was sent by voters to the state
Capitol to do a job, not to work to preserve their power.

Finally
something I can agree with! The only job any legislator has that
might be considered Job #1 is self preservation. If some anti gun
billionaire from out of state or even out of country wants a law
passed, all he has to do is send a copy of his pet legislation to the
head of the local DNC politely suggesting that anyone not supporting
this law WILL be facing a well-funded opponent in the next primary
race.

The
political tide, however, has strategically turned across the state. A
majority of voters here have made it clear they no longer believe the
outrageous lies generated by the NRA and other gun lobbyists. Voters
see through the empty rhetoric of the far-right and have
overwhelmingly pushed back against the government of President Donald
Trump.

In
a typical election year, about 30% of the electorate does not return
the ballots they were mailed. The alignment of these “non voters”
is about 50/50. The Evil party has figured out how to find the
otherwise non-voted ballots on their side of the fence and get a
significant percentage of them into the box. The Stupid party hasn't
yet figured this out. If they do (30% chance), before the 2020
elections, AND if the Evil party over reaches in the meantime (80%
chance) the balance of power can swing back toward the center.

History,
voters, common sense and righteousness are on the side of Democrats
and Republicans who know that realistic gun-safety legislation can
and will reduce gun violence and deaths.

History
and God are with us! Wait, I think I've heard that line before.

Start
now in Colorado.

Drop
on down to Venezuela first. They already have all of your agenda in
place. Ask them how it's working out. When all is said and done, I've
never seen an anti-gun law that didn't benefit primarily the criminal
class. For the lawmakers who propose such things, this is a plus as
the resultant increase in crime rates provides justification for more
anti-gun laws until the law-abiding population is completely
disarmed. Malcontents can then be safely picked up and jailed. See
Tony Robinson for an example.